Having a strong "talent brand" makes it easier for companies to attract and retain the brightest minds in the industry.

What companies do it the best?

LinkedIn analyzed billions of interactions on its platform to identify 100 companies with the highest brand engagements. These are also companies that employees want to work for the most.

"A company’s talent is its greatest strength, but hiring top talent isn’t easy," Dan Shapero, vice president of LinkedIn Talent Solutions and Insights, told Business Insider. "That's why talent brand is so important — the stronger the talent brand, the easier it is to hire and retain the best and brightest."

On LinkedIn's ranking of in-demand employers, the top industries are retail, oil, and technology. This year's list includes more employers located outside the U.S. (42%) compared to last year (32%). It also features a range of company sizes, with Spotify (2,066) and Tesla Motors (2,719) representing the smallest companies based on number of employees and IBM (400,599) and HP (247,676) representing the largest.